This is the dirtiest play of the Congress.... the real Dirty Picture. He could have been Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar. Now he will be just Sachin Tendulkar, MP.

— Shiv Sena supremo

Mumbai, April 29
The Shiv Sena and the Congress today traded insults over the nomination of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha.

At a function to felicitate him here, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray called the nomination of Tendulkar as "the real Dirty Picture".

"This is the dirtiest play of the Congress....the real Dirty Picture," Thackeray said.

Earlier, Thackeray writing in party mouthpiece Saamna said the Congress was cheating Tendulkar. "He could have been Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar. Now he will be just Sachin Tendulkar, MP," the write-up said.